Teaching Sikhi Kids

If there are any forum members with kids on this site, I would appreciate if they could share the resources they use(d) to introduce Sikhi related Sakhian to them. My son has just turned 4, so if anyone can provide references for this age group that would be great.

Please share any other tips I can use to impart knowledge about Gurbani, Sikh Philosophy etc for young children.

At the moment, we are teaching him Gurmukhi script, and Guru Kirpa he loves listening to Paath (esp Sukhmani Sahib) and Kirtan.

Also, do you wake your children up for amrit vela and does it disrupt their schooling in anyway? In the past I tried to take my son to the Gurdwara for the Amrit vela programme once at least once a week which he enjoyed but my wife felt he that he was always lethargic afterwards and decided that maybe we should wait until he is older. Can I please have the sangats view on this approach?

I was talking too a Singh a couple of weeks ago and he mentioned its ones duty to educate their child about Sikhi but never force SIkhi on them, because once you force Sikhi the child will rebel against Guru Sahib.

I remember watching a documentary about the Jewish Faith. In the movie the orthodox were teaching the young children Hebrew alphabet which is the language of the Torah. What the teachers did was place a sweet candy on each letter each time the child got the word right they would get to eat the candy. The teachers explained that this teaches the children that Hebrew is sweet like candy. Bhagat Fareed Ji also used a similar method to teach her son to recite Gods name- look what success it had! One can adopt the same method in teaching Gurmukhi and put mishreee/ parshaad as a gift for reciting Gurmukhi.

The films made by Vismad productions are also a good tool to educate children.

Excellent advice Veer Sukhdeep Singh jeeo. The teaching and learning of Sikhi should be made exciting and entertaining for the children; so that they subconsciously relate Kirtan, Paath, Saakhis, Gatka etc. with fun.

Kulbir Singh

VAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA, VAHEGURU JI KI FATEH

[www.sikhnet.com]

Please PLEASE pre-screen them (there are separate sections and separate categories). You could play it for them or listen them yourself and then re-tell it. At the least, it would provide insight as to how to bring down Sikh history to a kid's story form and make it more enjoyable to the children to hear.

Not married here (& dont intend to) but will write my perspective from my childhood.

Forcing never works, thats true.
The method Bhagat Fareed ji's mother adopted is indeed dhan dhan. Just be creative with it.

1. To get the child to memorize Gurbani.
My childhood friend memorized Gurbani this way, every-time he memorized like 10 paurees of Sri Jap Ji Sahib. The parents bought him his favorite toy. (you can adjust as you how calculative you want be to make the bargain more interesting>< ...so you might have to invest $$$, but its worth it for gursikh parents get their child memorize Gurbani)
Start with banis like Sri Jap Ji Sahib, Sri Anand Sahib, Sri Choupee Sahib, Sri Tav Parsad Sveiye.....Reh Rass Sahib, Sohilla Sahib
Do Gurbani Abhiyaas together regularly by asking the child to recite & you listen to it. This is what his parents did.

1 thing no one thought me was dhian, so never learned to enjoy naam and Gurbani as a kid. You might want to focus on this too. Teach them dhian starting with simran.

2.I have heard some 3HO's doing this.They get the child to wake-up for amrit wela simran & join them on weekends. Then they buy them their favorite candy. Maybe you can whip up some chocolate chip cookies at home? >< again depends on what your child likes.

3.To infuse faith in Vahiguroo in them Sakhis of Dhroo, Prehlaad & Jivan of all Guru Sahiban are good. Thats how Dass got started, though the realization of bhagti was never there.

4. When he has questions about Sikhi & Vahiguroo.Discuss gurmat & Naam with the child but hold the discussion at his understanding level. Chatrik had many question in childhood, but no one was there to give me answers neither did people around me had the profound understanding.
But mom use to tell us jivan of Baba Nand Singh, from there got a soft introduction on bhagti & japping Naam.

5.Last but not least, do ardass to Guru ji that we may be able to guide & infuse love in the child towards Vahiguroo's charan kamal,nothing is impossible if HIS keerpa is there. Bhai Guriqbal Singh(Mata Koala) says that do 1 extra Sri Jap ji sahib for your child so that s/he remains imbued with Gursikhi.
The whole point is to get the child to love Vahiguroo, Naam & Gurbani.


Am quite surprised that our married with children Bhai Kulbir Singh ji has not written more!><

Chota veer

Nice comments, and some interesting tips, especially from "Chatrik ji".
However a part of the question of the original poster still remains unanswered.

I also used to wonder about taking a child to Amrit wela at such a young age!

Any inputs on that would be very helpful, please!

Quote
I also used to wonder about taking a child to Amrit wela at such a young age!

If child already received Naam Deekhiya and they are able to speak or hint when they need something without noise then I do not think it is bad idea to bring him to Amritvela. That Rooh too will enjoy the bliss.

With Regards,
Daas

Singho,

Thanks for the advice, the tips will come in handy.

I agree we should not force Sikhi on children for fear of them rebelling later on and instead subtly expose them to the various aspects that Sikhi has to offer.

Like Pyasi Ji mentioned, I try to hold conversations at his level for explaining Waheguru Ji and how Maharaj resides in everyone, how we should love them but also fear them.

One thing I try with my limited knowledge and something that I missed out when I was younger is to teach him meanings of shabads that we listen to at home or in the car.

Teaching him to concentrate might not be so hard if I could myself :-)